Affective experiences of built environments and the promotion of urban walking

According to psychological theories of environmental affect, the physical environment moderates the walking experience and its psychological wellbeing benefits. The present paper further demonstrates that affective experiences also influence intentions to walk. A study to explore the influence of affective experiences of walking on walking intentions is reported. A sample of adults working or studying in Bristol, UK (n = 384) participated in an experiment involving virtual exposure to one of five environments, with evaluations of their affective experience and of intentions to walk in the setting. A subsample (n = 14) then took part in photo-elicited semi-structured interviews. Multiple regression analyses showed that affective experiences of walking influenced walking intentions. Interview analyses highlighted the role of traffic, city busyness, and poor aesthetics. This is the first empirical study that examines the walking experience and related walking intentions from the pedestrian perspective employing theories of environmental affect. The findings indicate that safety, comfort, and moderate sensory stimulation are crucial elements for the walking experience. Following this, a strategy to promote active mobility in the built environment can be constructed around safety, comfort, and moderate sensory stimulation by targeting the micro elements that prevent them

Now, where was I?: a cognitive experimental analysis of the influence of interruption on goal-directed behaviour

Task interruption is a pervasive applied problem despite a dearth of experimental work and the absence of a developed theoretical framework. Using a novel experimental approach (interrupting problem solving in the Tower of Hanoi task), and theoretical guidance from ACT-R-based models of goal suspension and resumption (Altmann & Trafton, 2002 Anderson & Douglass, 2001), nine experiments were conducted to assess how goal-directed behaviour is affected by interruption. A cost of interruption was exhibited mainly by extended times to resume an interrupted goal compared to an uninterrupted goal. The first empirical series established performance impairments in the form of long resumption latencies for promptly suspended goals and decrements in move accuracy, especially when interruption fell before or during a complex goal-sequence, with performance impaired further by secondary tasks that were similar to primary tasks. The second empirical series revealed that participants opportunistically encode promptly suspended goals for retrieval, a process supported by the associative activation provided by a salient colour priming cue and impaired when such a cue had changed colour and/or location. With a brief time lag before secondary task initiation, participants were able to encode a suspended goal more efficiently, reflected in faster resumption latencies even when secondary tasks were similar and when interruption fell within a complex goal sequence. The findings suggest that suspended goals do not reside in a heightened level of activation such that retrieval is definite (e.g., Goschke & Kuhl, 1993) neither is retrieval always abandoned at longer retention intervals (as suggested by Anderson & Lebiere, 2001). Instead, goals decay as a power function of the time since they were last processed and suffer retroactive interference from other goals, but can be reactivated if appropriately rehearsed and associated with salient retrieval cues (in support of Altmann & Trafton, 2002). In contrast to Altmann and Trafton, participants exhibit retrieval-like behaviour even when interruption is un-signalled, with efficiency augmented by experience of problem solving in the task domain and experience of being interrupted. The current experiments provide a novel insight into interruption management behaviours, particularly that humans are able and willing to adapt strategies to support faster and more efficient transitions back into the primary task

The utility of psychological measures in evaluating perceived usability of automated vehicle interfaces – A study with older adults

The design of the traditional vehicle human-machine interfaces (HMIs) is undergoing major change as we move towards fully connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). Given the diversity of user requirements and preferences, it is vital for designers to gain a deeper understanding of any underlying factors that could impact usability. The current study employs a range of carefully selected psychological measures to investigate the relationship with self-report usability of an in-CAV HMI integrated into a fully automated Level 5 simulator, during simulated journeys. Twenty-five older adults (65-years+) participated and were exposed to four journeys in a virtual reality fully automated CAV simulator (with video recorded journeys) into which our HMI was integrated. Participants completed a range of scales and questionnaires, as well as computerized cognitive tests. Key measures were: perceived usability of the HMI, cognitive performance, personality, attitudes towards computers, trust in technology, simulator sickness, presence and emotion. HMI perceived usability correlated positively with cognitive performance (e.g., working memory) and some individual characteristics such as trust in technology and negatively with neuroticism anxiety. Simulator sickness was associated negatively with CAV HMI perceived usability. Positive emotions correlated positively with reported usability across all four journeys, while negative emotions were negatively associated with usability only in the case of the last two journeys. Increased sense of presence in the virtual CAV simulator was not associated with usability. Implications for design are critically discussed. Our research is highly relevant in the design of high-fully automated vehicle HMIs, particularly for older adults, and in informing policy-makers and automated mobility providers of how to improve older people’s uptake of this technology

Using simulation-software-generated animations to investigate attitudes towards autonomous vehicles accidents

Road accidents involving autonomous vehicles are inevitable and have the potential to damage the public's confidence in the technology and ultimately result in its disuse. It's important to understand how people react to such incidents and the influencing factors of blame attribution and trust restoration. Research in this field has started to grow but faces a huge methodological challenge, which is to develop high-fidelity experimental stimuli as realistic representations of accident scenarios in order to elicit valid reactions from human participants. The present paper reviews and evaluates several existing methods used in the research field before proposing an alternative method of generating animated accident sequence using driving simulation software. It is argued that this method strikes a good balance of fidelity, versatility and cost-effectiveness. We also present some preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of variable manipulation using such a methodology

Reducing risk to security and privacy in the selection of trigger-action rules: Implicit vs. explicit priming for domestic smart devices

Smart home device usage is increasing, as is the diversity of users and range of devices. Additionally, it is becoming increasingly common to interconnect devices (e.g., via trigger-action rules) which, while bringing benefits, can bring unforeseen security and privacy risks. Developing strategies to protect users as well as understanding what biographical or attitudinal characteristics contribute to these risks is a critical step for ensuring empowered, but safe, interconnected smart device usage. Using narrative descriptions of domestic smart devices, two experiments explored how the prevailing security/privacy contexts—priming conditions—in which 20 trigger-action rules (developed via a Delphi Study) were presented influenced the adoption of rules favoring either security or privacy. Both experiments contrasted three priming conditions: no prime, security prime, privacy prime. Experiment 1 (n = 254) used explicit priming, giving direct instruction to maximize a security or privacy outcome while Experiment 2 (n = 325) used implicit priming, with an apparently unrelated security or privacy problem-solving puzzle. Across both experiments, priming promoted safer rule adoption, markedly so when explicit. Explicit priming produced an asymmetry however: privacy priming improved privacy scores with security scores unchanged and security primes improved security scores while worsening privacy scores. Across experiments, two dimensions of user attitudes shaped riskier rule choice: perceived benefits of technology and pre-existing trusting beliefs in online companies. Our novel findings reveal that implicit and explicit priming shape safe use of trigger-action rules in domestic settings and that age, perceived trust and perceived benefits should be considered when designing safety messaging

Press accept to update now: Individual differences in susceptibility to malevolent interruptions

© 2017 The Authors Increasingly, connected communication technologies have resulted in people being exposed to fraudulent communications by scammers and hackers attempting to gain access to computer systems for malicious purposes. Common influence techniques, such as mimicking authority figures or instilling a sense of urgency, are used to persuade people to respond to malevolent messages by, for example, accepting urgent updates. An ‘accept’ response to a malevolent influence message can result in severe negative consequences for the user and for others, including the organisations they work for. This paper undertakes exploratory research to examine individual differences in susceptibility to fraudulent computer messages when they masquerade as interruptions during a demanding memory recall primary task compared to when they are presented in a post-task phase. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to examine when and why people choose to accept or decline three types of interrupting computer update message (genuine, mimicked, and low authority) and the relative impact of such interruptions on performance of a serial recall memory primary task. Results suggest that fraudulent communications are more likely to be accepted by users when they interrupt a demanding memory-based primary task, that this relationship is impacted by the content of the fraudulent message, and that influence techniques used in fraudulent communications can over-ride authenticity cues when individuals decide to accept an update message. Implications for theories, such as the recently proposed Suspicion, Cognition and Automaticity Model and the Integrated Information Processing Model of Phishing Susceptibility, are discussed